Remilia's Spot of Tea
by Eisfee
Summary: At last, Remilia gets some well-deserved solitude.


It was evident that Remilia could never have her tea at the same time for each day; no matter her belief of this being the ideal, nor the obvious predictability before each tea time under such a pattern, life ultimately does not respect consistency. Beyond her mansion's residents, studying had to be done, and homework had to be done; not just hers, but Flandre's as well, whenever her younger sister felt annoyed from such a task. Remilia, in reference to the aforementioned residents, had never been fully able to deal with them, and therefore needed some time alone. Thankfully, school had let out for the summer.

Her gazebo appeared more comforting than usual, as if on approach it bore a welcoming presence; if it had arms, they were to embrace, and if it had a face, it would be that of a grandparent or another such relative whom one loves but cannot visit regularly. It shielded her from the sun, certainly, but for today this feature seemed a luxury, as though she did not expect it to provide shade. One can argue that this unexpectedness is from her fatigue following the prolonged absence, or her argument with Patchouli. Or she could be victim to the commonplace trope of vampires being susceptible to sunlight, which would be a sensible conclusion for one to make, given that her path to the gazebo had no protection from the rays at all; Sakuya really needed to build that covered walkway that was put to the backburner.

Regardless, she was now shaded by the at-times unforgiving summer sun; some gratitude must be given to the thunderstorm from the night before, as it left both a lesser heat and some periodic cloud cover. The gazebo itself had only a single table and a single chair, both on top of its slightly aged ivory floorboards. This was Remilia's gazebo, a place only for Remilia, to enjoy the nature and weather in the mansion's backyard. No one else set foot within her gazebo, that is, only when Remilia is there; in all honesty, while she was under the belief of the gazebo belonging to her only, the reality is that when Remilia isn't there, everybody else sits in the same chair. Patchouli played from her video game collection there, Koakuma got some reading done there, and Meiling arm-wrestled Flandre there; strangely, the former always lost. Even Sakuya, her oath-bound defender, would intrude the gazebo for her own tea. The sign nailed to the face of one of the entry posts, reading "Remilia's gazebo! If you are not Remilia, do not enter this gazebo, or else!" in bloodied crimson block lettering's only true purpose, in the end, was to exist, not to prohibit.

After a brief moment to seat herself, Sakuya brought her the tea, in an ornate cup on top of a small plate, sharing the remaining real estate with two sugar cubes and a teaspoon, and departed after Remilia's "Thank you", taking care to traverse the three descending steps and return to the mansion proper. Remilia was at peace; she had her gazebo. Granted, it wasn't actually her gazebo, but she thought it was, and that is really all that matters. She had her favorite Earl Grey tea still moving about in the cup from Sakuya's placement, in just the perfect ruddy hue. She had her time at last, away from Flandre's constant nagging and Meiling's most recent interest to become an opera contralto, to enjoy the tea, reflect on whatever thoughts that may arrive to her head, and relax. As she let it cool, the first thought was about Patchouli: why did Remilia feel the need to get mad at the unmoving, great library for snagging a manga volume from her bookshelf? It was really not that big of a deal; Patchouli liked that particular series as well, but if she had just asked to borrow it, there would be no problem. Remilia entertained the possibility that she is too possessive, what with having a "personal bookshelf" with "personal books" and a "personal gazebo" (which really was used by everybody else anyways, but never mind the fact), along with many other belongings that she would not share with anyone else, Flandre included; a fair amount of her frustrations were based from this possessiveness, so perhaps she would feel at ease lending more of her items to others. She decided at that point to apologize to Patchouli when she was done enjoying the tea.

"Remi?"

"Agh!"

Flandre had suddenly appeared by her side; while Remilia was recovering from the shock, the reality was that she had actually been there for quite a while, with Remilia's deep introspection about the argument with Patchouli being what was distracting her from her sister. "Are you okay?"

"No…I…you just scared me is all."

"What're you doing?"

"…I'm having some tea."

"But that's so boring!"

"Not to me."

"Don't you want to do something? It's a nice day!"

"Flandre…I want to enjoy this…could you wait just a little while longer?"

After feeling the awkwardness from Flandre's silence, she realized that to turn her sister away would give herself the solitude she wanted, but not without regrets. "How about this: we'll get Sakuya to make you some tea, and we'll have it together. How does that sound?"

"But…I've never had tea before."

"It's not that bad; just think of it like hot water that has some flavoring."

"Is it sweet?"

"It can be, yes."

"Okay, I'll try some."

Seeing Flandre's enthusiasm return was a welcome sight. "All right, I'll get Sakuya to make some more. Just wait in the chair and I'll be right back."

"Okay. Thanks!"

"No problem."

As she left her gazebo, she could feel herself leaving the tranquility along with it, but something about this interested her: she didn't mind. Certainly, when one has something that is expected to occur abruptly taken away, it can be jarring, to say the least. Remilia couldn't recall the last instance in which she had time to herself, and the opportunity to enjoy some tea without any need to talk, away from people, with the only sounds to keep her company being from the wind and birdsongs, to be brief, would have been fantastic. But, for whatever reason, it was not meant to be: she was given the mantle of a mansion, a maid, a less-than-reliable gatekeeper, two to attend the library, a pet chupacabra, and a younger sister. To fight against all of this would be futile; after all, Flandre's smile was far more valuable. She could only hope that Flandre would like the tea and not find it bitter without the aid of a number of sugar cubes amounting in the double digits.


End file.
